Name: Lyle Quarfordt

Social Justice Group: Funding Inequality in NYC Public Education (A)

Date of Fieldwork: December 19, 2024

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Kate Quarfordt, Co Founder of City School of the Arts

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork:

On December 19th our group interviewed the co-founder of charter school “city school of the arts”, my mother Kate Quarfordt. We learned that charter schools get 80% as much funding as public schools but aren’t forced to conform to some of the rules other schools have to give them more freedom for their curriculum. We also learned that to get out of the school in your zone, which depending on your income will vary in quality, you have to get into a specialized school which is hard to get into. You need tutors, extracurricular activities, tests and parents that have enough time and money to make this all happen which, for many in charter and public schools, are hard to come by.
All of these facts we learned just support our thought that zoning laws are meant to make public schools in certain zones low quality. And by doing that they make the students who go to that school not get the education of people with the time and money to go to specialized schools. Once they get through school they have less high quality college opportunities. And because of that they go on to most likely live in a zone where the rent is not as high so they don’t have to be stressed with the low paying job they most likely got after college. If they have kids their kids will grow up the same way they did and the cycle goes on.
These laws were made to keep the lower class out of power and the upper class on top. And the worst part is they work, only 62% of public school students in 2023 went to college. This is a real issue and one prominent in today’s society. In future field work we will discuss it more.